PROJECT 2

Developing silver-based antimicrobial food packaging containing recycled polypropylene (r-PP) composites.
Most synthetic polymers/plastics are the superior candidate for food packaging material, offering countless advantages such as low cost, low density, inert qualities, excellent barrier properties, good mechanical strength, high transparency, the ability to be heat-sealed and easily printed on. However, issues still exist and need to be addressed, for example, these synthetic polymers are often non-biodegradable and therefore cause negative impacts on the environment. They can cause landfill depletion, environmental pollution, and high energy consumption during the manufacturing process.
To reduce these impacts whilst maintaining the advantages of synthetic polymers/plastics and improving the overall shelf life of packaged food, GIOI has been developing silver-based antimicrobial food packaging containing recycled polypropylene (r-PP) composites.
Antimicrobial-active (bioactive agents) packaging is a new generation of nano food packaging based on metal nanocomposites, which are made by incorporating metal nanoparticles into polymers. In fact, the use of nanocomposites in food packaging has become one of the most proliferating areas of research in the food industry. Nanoparticles proportionally possess larger surface areas than their corresponding micro-and macro-scale particles, thus favoring the particle-polymer interactions and enhancing their mechanical and processing properties as well as the ability to inactivate microorganisms more effectively.